Welcome to Litsy!

Finally knocked this chunk of a book off of my physical tbr. I don‘t know why it took me so long to read it. I loved every minute of this. The detail and work Follett put into this book is incredible. It‘s definitely a five star read.

Full review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2025/09/19/winter-of-the-world-review/

#falling

Today‘s Prompt: Coffee and a Book

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Well September has not started as planned. My nine month old and I ended up with some weird unexpected sickness but thankfully she‘s bounced back quicker than I have. Anyhow, here‘s what I hope to read this month.

Full tbr: https://wildwoodreads.com/2025/09/05/september-2025-tbr/

#Flag 🇺🇸

#JuneSpecials ☀️🌸⛱️🦩🍉 🌻🩱🧴🕶️🌊🐚

#BookNerd 🤓📚💙

#25Alive! @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#Winter

Here are the books I scored at the used bookstore. Most excited about the two Ken Follett books.
❤️📖❤️📚❤️

27 days. 1006 pages. Longest book of the year done and dusted!

This book had everything. Drama. History. Politics. Romance. Family. 💖

My tbr shelf is getting overwhelming. I think it‘s time to do some organizing. I‘m really bad to only buy certain genres. Then I will eventually burn myself out on that genre and the books I bought will go unread.
Today I rounded up all of my historical fiction.
Have you read any of these? Which of these should I prioritize?

https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/04/26/historical-fiction-on-my-tbr/

I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy but this one just seemed to never end! It also doesn‘t really go into depth about the real horrors of living in Nazi Germany; it touches on it but very tamely. It makes the story unbelievable. And the Jewish Dr. Rothmann: in 1943 there‘s no way that he and his family would still be allowed to live in Berlin. They would most assuredly have been taken to camp by that time.

Someone is interrupting my reading time. 😂😂😂

https://readinginthewildwood.com/2020/08/28/lets-do-a-reading-update-book-chat/

I had to share my love of Litsy on my #blog tonight. This really is the greatest bookish community ever! Check it out and give it some love! 💕💕💕

https://readinginthewildwood.com/2020/08/17/my-favorite-bookish-apps/

I‘ve tried reading three different books today. This series keeps drawing me back in. On a side note, I‘m going to need a wrist brace. This book is chunky.

805/915

Typo in Winter of the World by Ken Follett
Line says "Major Weiss, a thin man with black hair and spectacles, often spoke cynically about the government and military, but always in this enigmatic way, way so that nothing could be proved against him."

350/915
Hit part II, about 40% through, feeling a bit burned out on war stories. I think it'll be a bit after I finish this one before I start the third book.
Thinking I'll bring The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman to the beach with me tomorrow, instead

Dying to start this. I'm off 8/6-8/16... can totally read it by then, right?

🌟🌟🌟🌟
It was a roller coaster ride, a lot of highs and a few lows which is to be expected for a book of this size. It was filled with some interesting characters,very engaging stories.I have always loved the blend of historical events with fiction and this book delivers big time.As with the 1st one,this also had some strong female characters, which is great to read.
This book needs time & patience, and if u stick with it, it is very rewarding.

You read and read, and then you realise you still have about 200 pages to go!!!

This is the 2nd book in Ken Follet's Century Trilogy. This series is an absolutely magnificent series detailing the period from WWI until after WWI. Brilliant!!

With work from home, not sure how much "work" will I be doing ???. Will be able to finish this mountain of a book!!!

Reading these two simultaneously.
Fractured is what I call my "commute book" as I read it going back and forth from office and during breaks ??
Winter of the world is the home book because it is a really big book and difficult to carry around ??

Part One was difficult to get through, it was slow, a lot of character introduction and not much action. It took a while to reach here.
Part Two is where it really takes off, World War II, dark times, and events are flowing at a faster rate.
Same thing happened with Fall of Giants, you stick with the characters, they start to grow on you, you start rooting for them and get invested in there journey!!!

The second book in Ken Follet's Century Trilogy. Few writes about the past like this author. History truly comes alive.

This novel was TOUGH. Not because the epic history lesson from Follett isn‘t enjoyable, well written, or factual; but simply because this part of history (1930s to 1949) is hard & emotionally draining to read about. The parallels to today‘s world are startling. Another 5 ⭐️ epic from Follett.

Mr. Follett, we are 💯, without a shadow of a doubt, in a HUGE fight. With 200 pages left in this novel, enough is enough. No more devastation please!!!! #inafightwithanauthor #toosad

1️⃣ Finish The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett (almost done tagged book, one more left); this is proving difficult because of the content. WW2 was vicious, and my favorite characters are suffering or dying. And it‘s eerie to see the similarities between The Third Reich & the current US Administration (I used to think those comparisons were dramatic, but not anymore). 2️⃣ Highlight quotes that resonate with me #Two4Tuesday

Have been MIA for some time but have started this mamoth of a book!!!

Today‘s Mood ☕️📖😒 #OnlyLittensUnderstand #thisisselfcare #bookworm

The mother of all book hauls 😂😂😂

This year will belong to Ken Follet!!

#ThursdaySurvey 1️⃣ Mostly physical books, but some ebooks as well. 2️⃣ Barnes & Noble, Indie bookstores I come across in my travels. My library in town isn‘t too great. 3️⃣Nope, not a fan. 4️⃣🚫 5️⃣ Tagged!

1️⃣ My ONLY bookish items are HP related. Used this for my tomato soup today while I‘m nursing my TMJ 2️⃣ Like I told @Eggs yesterday, I‘m not an audiobook girl. 🔇🚫 3️⃣See the tagged friends below! ☺️ #WondrousWednesday

Thanks for the tag @NeedsMoreBooks 1.) My favorite genre to read is self-help; I love to watch Saturday Night Live each week; I don‘t have a twitter account 2.) Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman 3.) Not lucky enough 4.) Too cold...because you can always more layers on. #litsylearn

I think my main problem with this novel was that in this volume it seems that Follet had check boxes he ticked off. To me, it didn‘t feel like his protagonists neatly and authentically dovetailed into the world events – it was more like there were so many important sights that Follet had problems finding personnel he could send to be an authentic part of the world‘s history. It often felt like: “How convenient”.

Do you understand what I mean❓🤔

Maybe Follet wanted to write a different kind of novel about this issue because almost everything about it has already been said and written. If so, is he in my eyes failed completely because he can only recreate the magic and the understanding for the big issues he arose so well in the first volume in this volume in very few places.

Having my high hopes disappointed leaves me kind of sad because I really believed Follet would do it again.

I have been looking forward to this so much because I have really been surprised by the first volume, “Fall of Titans”. I learned so much from this and felt that Follet explained the coherences so well, he really joined the dots for me. Compared to this, this second volume disappointed me deeply. Over a long period it‘s more a soap opera than a novel explaining WWII and fascism.

The last 4 to 5 hours redeemed me – but still. 😟

Making good progress with this.
I am thankful that it‘s not as oppressive anymore as it started.

But it‘s so complicated. I thought this, too, as I had begun listening to “Fall of Titans” but it turned out that Follet explained the correlations well. Or that I understood them better … But in here all the parallel developments of the fascist regimes, the fights, the rebels, it makes me sometimes feel dizzy 😵 and stupid.

As many of you know – and as everybody can see in my profile – I am German 🇩🇪. I‘m now scarcely an hour in that audiobook. And I already feel bad and bitter.

Even more if I think of and about the German AfD-party. Many think something like the Nazi dictatorship nowadays can‘t happen again. If I envision how it all developed in 1933 … It all went so unbelievably smoothly. 😢 I feel nauseated. 🤢

I am once more thankful for my significant other‘s fat internet connection this second part of Ken Follet‘s “Titans”-saga download properly on my device in less than 5 minutes‼️🙌🏼 My connection would have needed about five times as long, at least, plus constant monitoring.

I am very much looking forward to to this because I was so surprised and impressed by the first book.

I enjoyed the second installment of the Century Trilogy. I've read a lot of books about World War II, but I still felt like I learned a bit more. It was nice to find out about the next generation of characters in this series. I look forward to reading the third book.

This second book was even more interesting than the first: the way things before, during and just after WWII were happening between GB, France, Spain, Germany, Russia and USA and interconnected into the 5 family stories is increasingly interesting. The reading is really capturing your attention with suspense and thrilling situations. Let‘s start the third of the series! #2019

#colormepretty #BlackAndBlue @Sweetkokoro

Time to enjoy a good doorstop of a book. Really enjoyed the first one in the trilogy and I have a week off coming up.

Book 2 of the brilliant Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. Timeline courtesy of https://ken-follett.com/images/bibliography/winter_of_the_world/timelines/winter...
#SeasonsReadings #BabyItsColdOutside

Presenting my overly ambitious December TBR. From the bottom:

Winter of the World (tagged)
La isla bajo el mar (which I've been reading since June)
Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas (probably the only book I'll finish 🙄)
Sin tetas no hay paraíso (which I've probably been reading all year.)
The Count of Monte Cristo (which I was supposed to read last month.)

74% done and loving it, even though I am fed up with the World Wars. Which stand alone Follett should I read after this trilogy? Also, @Andrew65 which Maeve will we read in December? Also Heartstone is on the list @EadieB 🙂 I am feeling so responsible planning my December reading list now!

I did not like the sequel as much as The Fall of Giants. However, it is still a pretty good read. Interested to see how he will end the story in the third and final part.

I really loved this novel and have already reread it once. I found it easy to read and enjoyable. I admit I might be a little biased because I have always enjoyed Ken Follett‘s historical fiction.